Cousin Craig farms in north central Kansas. When I say ‘farms,’ he really FARMS. Singlehandedly, he manages, works and farms nearly 3,000 acres. He’s no redneck hillbilly farmer, he has a degree in agriculture, his tractors and combines cost more than some houses and K-State researchers regularly visit him to find out the latest in ‘what works’ out in American agriculture. He is in the futures market because he has to be, with his own labor, product and risk. He’s tan, in shape, laughs a lot, even when he says the cost of the bread wrapper is double the cost of the wheat that makes up your loaf of whole wheat bread.

His biggest problem? Cost of fertilizer? “When I get the tank filled early in the morning with fertilizer, by the time I get back mid afternoon for my second load, the price has gone UP over $2,000,” he says. The price of fertilizer for those who don’t follow these things tripled in a single year. How about gas? It is not unusual for him to burn through 500 gallons of diesel fuel per day. You do the math. Each of his 16 pivot irrigation systems has a small generator capable of powering a small neighborhood and an un-guarded 1,000 gallon diesel tank that sits nearby, with about $5,000 worth of fuel. He is somewhat nervous that someone will steal his generators, basically made of copper “at $3 a pound,” and his diesel fuel. The Kansas state legislature is considering a bill that will add back the road tax portion on his farm diesel bill. With an ever decreasing number of farm aware legislators, chances are good he will be paying another 50 cents a gallon or so in taxes to help pay for roads his equipment never gets on.

But his biggest problem is that he can’t find help. He says farmers in his area have been trying and trying and trying. They just can’t find anyone to move to a small town where it is four hours to the nearest decent airport. He thinks he could hire two, maybe four people full time.

Must be the wages? “Can’t be that,” he says, “I will nearly pay whatever it takes…with overtime, they could make almost $80,000 a year.” On top of that, he will pay all the health care coverage and let people live in one of the houses he owns in his local small town, “just because I thought it would help me attract a family.” Beef is free too, and he doesn’t need to go to Costco to buy it for the lucky family, either.

Skill? “I can teach them easily,” he says. “My equipment is goof proof, it has to be.” By that, he means that an employee need not even know how to drive straight, the tractor is guided by a sophisticated guidance sytem hooked into three satellites. “If I overlap six inches on fertilizer or seeding,” he says, “it wastes nearly $10,000.” This is a big business, and Craig has it pretty much figured out. “I need someone who is willing to work 18-20 hour days during the big work periods, like at harvest, planting, fertilizing,” he says. Another person or two will help him get back into the seed business, a natural extension that is slightly more profitable.

His wife teaches first grade (“i just love teaching”) at the local school, where each student gets personal attention from not only the teacher but from the folks in town. One grade equals one classroom in small town Kansas, twenty kids per class; and “it’s like a town full of baby sitters watching out for everyone else’s kid,” she says.

I said I would help him find someone to help out. Know anyone?